Brajesh Thakur’s aide sent to 48-hour police custody

Muzaffarpur: A key associate of Brajesh Thakur, prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, was on Friday taken into custody by police for investigation into the disappearance of several women lodged at another facility run by him in the town. Madhu alias Shaista Parveen was remanded to 48 hours in police custody vide an order passed by special POCSO Judge R P Tiwari on Thursday.

The police had sought her custody in pursuance of an FIR lodged on June 06 last year at the women police station here in connection with the mysterious disappearance of 11 women and four children from ‘Swadhar Grih’, another shelter home run by the NGO headed by Thakur. Madhu, who is said to have managed Thakur’s NGOs and newspapers, was arrested in November last year by the CBI after it took over the probe.

The scandal came to light in May last year when an FIR was lodged by the state social welfare department based on a social audit report by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The report highlighted sexual abuse of inmates at ‘Balika Grih’. Of the inmates who went missing from ‘Swadhar Grih’, one was traced by police in August last year.